Appreciating More
by FoxxyKat
Summary: This is a quick, fluffy one-shot featuring my fav couple JinJulia. If you don't like them simply don't read it. Flamers will be laughed at. Enjoy!


Sorry about the lame title. This is a simple one shot I came up with a couple of months ago. It's also my first piece of fan fiction EVER, so be gentle please! If you don't I won't really care, though. LOL!

Characters: Julia Chang, Jin Kazama, and other Tekken characters

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own any of these characters. They're all Namco's. 

**Julia's POV**

It's the start of another tournament. The 5th one to be exact. I never won any. Well, none since the 3rd tournament, anyway. Which is when I first joined. I recognized almost everyone there. There were a couple of new faces or old contestants that changed their looks chatting about. I looked around the cafeteria and spotted a young girl sitting by herself in one of the booths. She looked to be in her late teens with short brown hair and a blue outfit on. Something about her was familiar, but I couldn't exactly put my finger on it. She was looking intensely at something in her hands. A picture maybe? I couldn't really tell. She looked like she was on the verge of tears. I wanted to go over and say something to her, but thought better of it. I mean, I didn't even know the girl and she looked like she'd rather be alone, anyway. I sighed, then turned to pick up a tray and slightly bumped into someone.

"Oh, excuse me," I said, embarrassingly.

"It's alright. How are you, Julia?" The person asked.

"Eddy! It's good to see you! I'm doing fine. How are you doing?" I said, happy to see an old friend.

"I'm great! I'm not really here for the tournament, though. I'm searching for Christie. After the last tournament, she said she was looking for something and took off. It's been weeks and her grandfather and I were getting worried. So…here I am," He said, holding his arms out for me to hug him. I hugged and squeezed him.

"Julia, I can't breath," He said in a strained voice and I let go.

"I'm sorry, but I hope she's okay and you find her,"

"Yeah, me too. Come on. Let's sit down," We each grabbed a tray of food then sat at a booth.

"So, why are you in the tournament?" Eddy suddenly asked.

"Well, I'm still having trouble saving my homeland so I kind of need the money,"

"I wish you luck," He took a bite of his sandwich then looked around the cafeteria.

"I see a lot of people from the previous tournament here," He nodded at the stubborn redhead, Hwoarang and the loud blond, Paul Phoenix that was talking the poor boy's ear off. Hwoarang looked like he was about to fall asleep so he could at least escape the man's meaningless chatting. Eddy and I laughed at the scene. I smiled at King when I saw him walk by us. I had become friends, and maybe acquaintances, with some of the fighters at the last tournament. It was interesting to know all their different reasons for joining. I was particularly interested in Jin Kazama's reason. At least for this tournament.

I remember at the end of the last one, when I ran out of the lab after deleting Dr. Abel's files, I got caught at a dead end by some Tekken forces.

"Looks like you're in trouble, sweetheart," One of the bastards said to me. I searched for an escape route with my back against the wall when I heard a shout. The forces all turned around and started shooting at the uninvited guest and my savior. All I saw were bodies and guns dropping and heard screams from the Tekken forces.

I stood frozen and stunned when all the noise stopped and Jin Kazama was left standing, barely even breathing hard.

We stood there staring at each other and, suddenly, he was gone. It was like he was there, I blinked, and then gone. I almost thought I was hallucinating, but it happened. I really wanted to thank him for saving my life, but I never saw him again after that. I sighed sadly.

"Then I was like-Julia, what is it?" Eddy had stopped talking and looked at me confused.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Eddy. I kind of went off on the deep end there," I smiled sheepishly.

"Yeah, you did. Did you even hear a word I said?" He asked, chuckling a little. "What were you thinking about, anyway?" I averted my eyes.

"Oh, him again," I put a handful of chips in my mouth. A lame attempt to avoid the topic.

"You could ask that little Chinese girl about his whereabouts if you're so worried," He said smiling at me.

I swallowed, "I'm not worried about him! I just want to thank him. That's all," I picked up my burger. He looked at me skeptically.

"So now you're gonna front. I think this man saved your life, you appreciated him for that, and then that appreciation turned into something else," He wiggled his eyebrows.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Whatever. A simple thanks. That's all,"

"Uh huh. Hey, look," He pointed at Xiaoyu.

"Why don't you go ask about your man?" Eddy then busted out laughing at my wide-eyed expression.

"Hey, I'm going to go hit the gym for a while. I'll see you, babe," We hugged again and he kissed me on the cheek.

"Later, Eddy," After he left, I looked at Xiaoyu, debating about going over to her. I finally got the courage and dumped my food before heading over.

"Uh…hi, Xiaoyu. Do you mind?" I asked her, smiling.

"Not at all, Julia! You look pretty as usual. It's nice to see you!" I fought back the urge to cringe at her excited, high-pitched voice.

"Thank you. You look nice, too. Still trying to get your amusement park?" I said, sitting down. She seemed to perk up even more, if that's possible, at the fact that I remembered that.

"Not this time. I want to go back in time and help the Mishima family," I laughed, thinking she must be joking, but stopped when I noticed she wasn't laughing.

"You're serious?" She just nodded with that stupid smirk on her face.

"Well, uh, I hope you, uh, are able to help them," I smiled at her thinking she must be the craziest person in this tournament.

"I hoped you'd say that," She licked her ice cream. "How come you're in the tournament?"

"I'm still trying to save my homeland and the money would really help," She nodded, still licking her ice scream. There was silence for a few seconds.

"Um…Xiaoyu? Do you know where Jin is or if he's in the tournament?" I bit my bottom lip, waiting for her to reply. She stopped licking her ice cream and I noticed she looked a little sad.

"I haven't seen him since the last tournament and I don't even know if he's in this one. Sorry, Julia," I sighed sadly.

"Thanks. I just needed to tell him something,"

"Like what?"

"I wanted to tell him 'Thank you'," I stood up.

"Hmm...Maybe he didn't join this tournament. I've asked a couple of other fighters and they haven't seen him, either. The only other people I can think of are his father or Heihachi," Xiaoyu said.

I scoffed. "Kazuya or Heihachi? Even if they did know they wouldn't tell me. Thanks, anyway. I'm going to take a nap. Take care," I walked toward the exit.

"See you later, Julia! Maybe we could go shopping tomorrow!" I heard Xiaoyu shout behind me and couldn't help but roll my eyes at her cheeriness. I couldn't think of anyone else here that might know where he's at that would tell me. Besides his relatives and Xiaoyu, no one else really knew him. And, no, I'm not psychic, I just figured the other fighters didn't know or care who he was. At least from what my own little investigation on each one of them proved, anyway. I mean, only an idiot would join the tournament and not know what they're up against. And no one seemed to have a connection with him. There was that girl from the cafeteria earlier. She must've sighed up late because I don't remember seeing her name on the list of fighters. Maybe she knew…Nah. It was hopeless.

I went up to my hotel room and laid on the bed. This doesn't make any sense. Why would he be in the 3rd and 4th tournaments but just miss the 5th one? Well, everybody had their reasons. I inhaled and exhaled deeply and realized I wasn't even tired. I glanced at the clock. It was only five till six. Maybe I'll take a walk then see what Eddy was up to.

I walked down the street admiring the brightly lit stores. Tokyo was definitely different from Arizona. I walked in one of the stores. It had anime and video games everywhere. One video caught my eye, but I checked my pockets and realized that I'm such a retard that I left my money back in the hotel room. Oh well, I'll just come back tomorrow. I decided to head back to my room. I mean, what was the point of running around town with no money?

I walked for about 10 minutes. Jeez, I didn't even realize that I had walked that far away from the hotel. It was getting cold, I had no jacket, and I could have sworn I felt a raindrop. Sigh. I started to walk faster, but it seemed like the faster I walked the more rain would fall until it was pouring. I slowed my pace and kept my head down. Oh man, this really sucked. I'm going to take a hot shower as soon as I get in that room. My teeth were starting to chatter now. I would love some of my mom's special tea right now. I wonder how she's doing anyway. I should probably call her when I make it back. My mind was filling with all kinds of thoughts of making me warm when I saw a pair of shoes in front of me. I had been staring at the ground and not even realizing it. I slowly followed the shoes up to a pair of legs and finally a face. I think my heart stopped when I saw who it was. Jin was standing no more than 2 feet away from me and soaked to the bone like I was. He blinked at me. The water falling off his long eyelashes like tears.

I stared at him, afraid to blink because he might disappear. And so here we were, just like in the last tournament, staring at each other again. I was looking at him looking at me and finally my voice found itself again and I spoke.

"Fine time to take a walk, huh?" I regretted the words as soon as they left my mouth. Well, until I saw the small smile that grazed his pouty, full lips. I couldn't help but smile back until it was a full grin. I could also tell he was holding back laughter.

It was strange. I thought I just wanted to tell him thank you and maybe give him a hug, but the excitement running through me when I laid eyes on him told me I wanted to give him a lot more than that.

When our laughter died down, we just stared at each other smiling. We seemed to do that a lot around one another. I also realized that I had never seen him smile. It was one of the most beautiful things I ever seen. Not to mention he looked quite nice dripping wet like that. Oh lord. I didn't just think that…did I?

"Why are we standing in the rain, Julia?" Came his deep, smooth voice. I snapped out of my daze.

"Oh, sorry. Yeah, dry and warm does seem a lot better," I could feel my cheeks burning.

"Okay. So let's head back," He turned around toward the way to the hotel. I swallowed, suddenly feeling extremely shy.

"Uh, Jin?"

"Yes?" He kept his pace.

"Where have you been?" I looked at him.

"Long story. We can talk when we're inside," He said then tried to wipe some rain drops out of his eyes. Okay, but I didn't want to walk in silence the whole way back.

"Thank you," I kept my eyes staring ahead. He stopped.

"For what?"

"Saving my life after the last tournament. I never got to tell you, so I'm telling you now. Thank you," I smiled at him.

"You're welcome. I couldn't let them kill you, you know," He turned to walk again and I joined him.

"Sure you could've. It wasn't like we were friends. Matter of fact, this is the first time we've actually talked to each other," I glanced at him.

"Yeah, it is," A smile played on his lips. "We're actually talking as if we were friends forever,"

I giggled. "Weird."

"Yeah, weird," He smiled again and I cherished it.

We finally made it back to the hotel.

"Um, you want to talk later in my room?" Jin asked when we came in the lobby.

"Uh, alright. I'll just change into something dry and be right there. What room are you in?" I asked, shivering at the chill in the building.

"208," He told me, pulling out his key to make sure.

"Alright. I'll be there in about 10 minutes." He smiled again and turned to leave.

It seemed so strange. Jin was a very private person and didn't say much. I've never even spoken to him before today. It's almost as if we've known each other for years. He was smiling so much today I could have sworn he was someone else. Anyway, I changed into some dry jeans and a tank top. I tried to manage my hair by putting it in a decent ponytail. I then went downstairs to room 208 and knocked. Butterflies were doing flips in my stomach when Jin answered the door.

"Come in," He stepped back with a small smile on his face. I stepped in his clean room nervously fidgeting with my fingers.

"There's no reason to be nervous. I'm not going to do anything," He still had that smile on his face. I looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Why are you so happy? I've never seen you smile so much. Matter of fact, I've never seen you smile at all," I put my hands on my hips.

"Well, maybe you make me smile, Ms. Chang," Now he's flirting and I could once again feel the heat in my cheeks.

"I apologize if I seem to be acting weird, but I need to talk to you about that or, well…me," He motioned for me to sit on the bed. I did with a look of confusion on my face. He sat next to me.

"What's wrong?" He looked down at his hands.

"I know you think I'm a monster," He said so quietly that I barely heard him. Why would he think that?

"Jin, I don't think you're a monster. Why would you—"

"I saw you," He said, still quiet.

"What?"

"At the end of the 3rd tournament, when I, um, changed, I saw you. You were hiding behind a pillar, but I still saw how scared you looked. Like I was the evilest, ugliest thing you've ever seen," He looked so sad I thought I might start crying.

"No, no, Jin! I was shocked and scared at the fact that your grandfather shot you. I thought you were dead."

"But then I changed and you were terrified," He hung his head.

"I was shocked and scared when you changed, but I was shocked and scared for _you_, Jin," He looked up at me.

"You don't think I'm a freak or monster?" He asked.

I smiled at him. "No, Jin. You're beautiful. Your wings are even beautiful," He smiled a little then.

"You're not scared of me right now? You know, there's a part of me that's a devil,"

"You think I would be here if I were scared of you? And your devil side just makes you interesting," He laughed.

"You may be the only one here that thinks that. Even Xiaoyu is scared of me. She was the only person that would tolerate me for a while. My family hates me and I don't really know anyone else. I guess I thought being nice to you would make you see I'm not all bad," He sighed. "I must sound so pathetic," He hung his head again. I took his face in my hands.

"You need to stop beating yourself up. You're really not that bad. But were you just acting then with the 'being-nice-to-me-and-smiling' thing?" I asked, still holding his face. It was his turn to blush.

"Actually, no. You really do make me smile. I think you're beautiful, too. That's why I told you I couldn't let those Tekken forces kill you. I…I care about you. You're here to save your homeland and that has to be one of the most unselfish things anybody is here to do and I guess I kind of feel for your kindness. I don't know," He laughed a little.

"You're also the only person, besides my grandfather and father, that has seen me transform. You are one of the rare people that really know me," I'm not even sure when my tears started, but I felt them slide down my face. I closed my eyes and felt him pull my hands from his face. Then I felt his soft lips on my cheeks, kissing away my tears. Even more tears started to come when he did that. I heard him whisper something in my ear and a shiver traveled down my spine. My eyes were still closed when I felt his lips lightly touch mine. He was so gentle and slow with his soft butterfly kisses. My hands were against his chest and his moved around my waist, pulling me gently closer to him. He planted one more soft kiss on my lips before I felt his tongue slid over my top one. So I opened my mouth a little to give him access. His tongue slowly and gently messaged mine. I rubbed his the same with mine. He then backed up a little till he was sucking on my bottom lip. I needed to breathe, so I didn't mind him slowing down a bit. He slowed until he stopped completely. I opened my eyes and looked at him. He was looking at me so tenderly that I couldn't help but kiss him softly on the lips again. When I backed away, I had a huge grin on my face.

"You should have told me how you felt way back after the 3rd tournament," I giggled hugging him. He squeezed me back then moved me so I was sitting on his lap.

"I was somewhere in Australia at that time,"

"What?" I pulled back to look at him.

"Long story, but I'm here now and you're the only thing that matters right now," He kissed my collar bone. I kissed him on his forehead.

"And you're all that matters to me, too," We both looked at one another and he hugged me and we held each other like that all night.

(Gags) My first finished fic. I'm proud of it, but I'm sure it could have been better. At least it's finished, though. Whew! (Jumps up and down, excitedly)

Thank you so so so much Pinkforever. I was completely lost and I appreciate all the help you've given me. So big huggles for you! LOL!

Thank you all for reading!


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